I was walking up Croft Place from Delridge [map] and Juneau when two younger Americans of African descent started following me up the hill. As I got towards the top of the hill and was in that patch where the streetlights are sparse by the small children’s play area, they approached and politely asked if they could use my phone to call their parents. I handed over my phone, an HTC 4g 3D that was in a black Otter case but the phone itself is red with a two lens camera. He acted like he was dialing home and stepped a couple steps away. That is when he pulled out a gun and pointed it at my head and informed me he was taking my phone and advised me to just walk up the hill and if I didn’t turn around, he wouldn’t shoot me.

The assailants are two light skinned black kids approximately 16 years old I would guess. The one that had the gun would be about 5’9″ or 5’10” and maybe weighs 150. He was wearing a Blue and Black jacket and dark pants. His hair was in a short to medium length afro but was well kempt. The second was about the same age and a little shorter but also lighter skinned and wearing lighter clothes. It happened at about 5:45 pm Tuesday. I mentioned it to a neighbor and he said it sounded like two people that he has seen around 18th and Juneau in a little mob of kids that try and pretend to be gangsta, so there is a possiblity that someone … may even know them or be their parent. If so the police case number is 2011-406959. The phone was a $300 phone and armed robbery is a serious crime. For all I know he may have been using a toy gun but in that light I wasn’t going to take a chance. I just wanted to make sure that their description was out there and their MO to hopefully avoid anyone else being their victims.

And did you have a “funny feeling” about them following you? That might have been the first clue they were up to no good. People – don’t be afraid to be a jerk and say “No, I don’t have a phone.” Trust me, all these “gangsta” kids have their own pre-paid cheap-o phones. That’s why they’d prefer your nice HTC.

Scary to hear this. Stealing a smartphone just seems dumb as there should be multiple ways of tracking the phone’s location down to a few meters if it’s on depending on carrier and software that is loaded.

Geezzz. According to the map, that is a couple of blocks from the SW Precinct? Brazen indeed.
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Good to hear that you are OK but I don’t think their “friends” or “parents” will turn them in no matter how bad the crime is. If they had good parents or friends, they wouldn’t be robbing people.

Glad you are safe. You did the right thing once your perimeter space was breached, getting out of the situation with your life intact was a great outcome. Stupid kids they weren’t … armed robbers they were.

Good luck getting the police to do anything even if the phone can be tracked. Someone I know that was recently robbed couldn’t get the SPD to make a 5 minute phone call to verify the location of their xbox that was taken eventhough Microsoft confirmed they had a location on it. Apparently Microsoft can tell you they have the info but will only turn it over to the police and only if the police inquire, because of so called vigilantism. Whether or not that’s true I don’t know but with the spike in robberies in this community you would think the police would take the 5 minutes to make a call that might lead to a break in finding and arresting some of these thugs! Crime in the city of Seattle does pay! Sure doesn’t do anything to help SPD’s tarnished public image…Your hard earned tax dollars at work…

Glad you’re OK, for the two thugs, this will all come back to bite them. There’s all kinds of justice is this world, and one day they’re going to attempt to rob the wrong person…or right one depending on how you look at it.

Actually gBear the officer that responded to me was very helpful. I logged into my mobile account to see if I could track the phone from there and couldn’t unfortunately so then he used his phone to call Sprint customer Service and asked them if they could track it. Sprint’s reclamation assistance department was not open so they weren’t but they transferred us to the Insurance company because they said that Asurion should be able to. Unfortunately Asurion was only successful at making a distressing situation more frustrating by refusing to speak to the officer and then when I finally did get the officer on the line they put him on hold and transferred him back into the phone tree. As to if I Had a funny feeling, I have a funny feeling when anyone is walking up that street behind me. I live pretty close to where it happened and that street is poorly lit but not as isolated as the stairs up Graham or Juneau that are the other options to get up to 21st.

Link to map shows the wrong Croft Place SW. This incident happened on the section of Croft Place SW that runs right behind the Boren School, from 23rd Ave SW at Juneau up to 21st Ave SW. This is 1.5 blocks away from where the DESC is going to put 75 mentally ill and or addicted extremely vulnerable and formerly homeless people.

Gbear – tracking down your Xbox isn’t as easy as you might think. Yes, Microsoft can verify your console ID is in use at a particular IP address, but that’s it – they don’t get GPS coordinates back from it. If Microsoft was willing to openly give that IP address to SPD, (I don’t think they are ‘willing’ about that, hence your phrase “if the police inquire” which probably really translates on Microsoft’s end to “if the police compel us to provide that information with a court order”) SPD would then have to get a court order to obtain the subscriber information from the ISP of that IP address. ISP’s are notorious for dragging their feet in the name of privacy laws unless it’s a matter of life or death. So, in the end, when it comes down to investigating an armed robbery, or a missing Xbox from a residental burglary, prioritization says the armed robbery is going to get the time and resources. Just the way it is, especially with today’s budget woes.

I did exactly that. Last summer at Kubota gardens I was immediately approached in the parking lot by two ‘gangsta’ youths, wanting to use my cell phone. I told them I didn’t have one, and they began cussing at me, getting all worked up, but eventually walked away.

Aaron, if you have trouble with the insurance company, you should contact the office of Washington Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler. Insurance companies contract to assist consumers, and if they do the opposite, or if you run into problems, you should consider immediately contacting the Commissioner’s office for assistance. Information on how to do that is at the website: http://www.insurance.wa.gov.

Jason, if you had read my post correctly, it wasn’t my xbox and I didn’t request a lesson in IPs and ISP’s and court orders and privacy laws blah, blah, blah…..The main point I am getting at is that crime does pay in Seattle and the thugs know it and until things change and SPD is ready to give more attention to these crimes over speeding on 35th,etc.. then we can just expect more of the same! Clearly it goes without even needing to say it, that Aaron should get more action form the authorities due to the armed robbery aspect.

Many years ago I lived in the 5400 block of 25th SW. On several occasions I had to call the SPD because of criminal activities perpetrated by people who could best be described as similar to the two in this holdup. I soon learned that if you expected a timely response from the police in that part of West Seattle you were dreaming. If I still lived there, I can assure you, I would rely less on the police and more on Smith and Wesson.